While at times overly familiar, the film never feels self-mocking.

There's not a single bad performance here, and director Marshall wisely builds his film on small moments, realized with sympathy and intelligence.

The cast deliver consistently fine, subtle performances, underscored by Ben Nichols' mournfully melodic guitar score.

Though the plot is that of a simple revenge western, director George Miller infuses the film with a kinetic combination of visual style, amazing stunt work, creative costume design, and eccentric, detailed characterizations that practically jump out of the screen and grab the viewer by the throat.

All in all, a fine example of what a sense of humor can do with a low budget and an old idea.

A truly compelling psychological suspense story from Otto Preminger.

The film cannot compare with John Ford's masterpiece about coal miners, How Green Was My Valley. However, it does offer some memorable moments of quality and passion.

You just know that any film that opens with Nietzsche's aphorism about hope being an evil that only prolongs the torments of man isn't going to a comedy.

Foster finds the common ground on which his eclectic cast can meet (no small feat when they range from brassy Queen Latifah to "Arrested Development"'s deadpan Tony Hale) and keeps the story's sweetness from devolving into saccharine kitsch.

It's both very funny and very scary, and never descends to the level of spoof.

DEEP COVER has a shaky beginning and a hokey ending but, somewhere in between, it becomes a movie of considerable power--largely thanks to the contrasting styles of its two stars.

Once again employing his famous muppets, Jim Henson creates a brilliantly detailed universe with this intriguing fairy-tale adventure.

While it's implausible that all of these mishaps would befall a couple in 24 hours, none of these occurrences is beyond the realm of belief, and Simon has cleverly strung them together in one of his best screenplays.

Until the disappointingly conventional ending, in which dad and the head baddie go it mano a mano on the streets, this dark drama -- based on a 1956 Glenn Ford picture of the same name -- negotiates its narrative twists and turns with professional aplomb, even daring to make the hero an arrogant schmuck.

Their voyage through the body's bloodstream past assorted organs was created by inventive special effects that make this one of the more visually interesting science fiction films of its era.

An unabashed call to action that shines a spotlight on a problem whose intimate medical nature relegated it to the shadows.

Another in a surprisingly good series of romantic comedies starring Doris Day from producers Ross Hunter and Martin Melcher.

While changes have been made to the book in the interest of compressing the story and emphasizing certain life lessons, the 33-year-old premise is still perfectly in sync with the sensibilities of preteen boys everywhere.

Resnais cuts constantly between the various narrative threads, signaling each change of scene with a superimposed shower of snowflakes; it's a highly artificial device, and a deceptively lovely one that reinforces the sense that all Ayckbourn's characters are slowly succumbing to an emotional chill.

Although the film revolves around a child, it's not a children's movie: A cruel and bitter undertone runs through the fanciful adventures, and Walker's depression is no mere plot contrivance to be cured by Alexandria's childish enthusiasm.

The sometimes self-conscious and too-earnest Fonda and the occasionally hammy Lemmon both rise beautifully to the occasion, delivering performances that are among their best.

Fried Green Tomatoes is an engaging if sentimental tale, charmingly handled by producer-turned-director Jon Avnet (Risky Business) and flawlessly acted by its four female stars. Plaudits must also go to Geoffrey Simpson, for his splendid cinematography, and to Thomas Newman for his drama-enhancing musical score.

Dark, dank and violent, filled with terrifying scenes in which exploited children are beaten, shot or starving to death. In other words, it's just as Dickens wrote.

The Wicker Man is intelligent entertainment that takes its subject seriously without resorting to gratuitous effects to make a point. It remains a fine example of occult horror that remains with the viewer well past its conclusion.

Before director-writer Bob Zemeckis found success with blockbuster hits ROMANCING THE STONE and BACK TO THE FUTURE, he directed this raunchy, hysterically funny comedy. Kurt Russell turns in a brilliant performance.

Thanks to a landmark performance by Al Pacino, SCENT OF A WOMAN is an agreeably watchable film. If they'd made it half an hour shorter and re-written the ending, it could have been a great one.

Heartfelt and often very funny.

The animation, courtesy of Don Bluth's studio, is exceptional, and some fine musical moments are provided by Melba Moore.

Well-acted, deftly written and directed, and expertly shot by Young, this darkly comic tale of a hapless small-time gangster is an engaging cinematic artifact that remains as fresh today as the day it was made.

For the more intelligent Eastwood fan, the film offers an interesting exploration of the actor-director's screen persona. Throughout, he experiments with a number of different disguises, finally embracing total dehumanization when he steps into the Firefox, dons the special mind-reading helmet, and becomes one with the sleek, gleaming, high-tech killing machine.

Despite its flaws, the film has the same dreamy, romantic melancholy that distinguishes Wong's best films.

This darkly effective horror drama holds plenty of interest, even for those who find Anne Rice's gothic cult novels unreadable.

In this very personal portrait, Davies, the artist, has re-created universal experiences--familiar passions and needs--that draw us to his family's humanity.

Veers regularly into disease-of-the-week territory but is rescued by the powerhouse performances of Ken Watanabe (who was instrumental in getting the film made) and Kanako Higuchi.

Beautifully animated, the celebrity voice performances are terrific, and the action sequences negotiate the fine line between being physically convincing and becoming too intense for the young children.

The first of the witty, well-produced sex comedies featuring Day and Hudson.

One of the best of many early 1970s vampire movies inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, Daughters of Darkness is remarkable not only for its eroticism, but for Kumel's stunning visual style, reminiscent of that of Josef von Sternberg.

Thalbach's passionate performance is the film's center, but she's aided by a strong supporting cast, Jarre's propulsive score and the gritty locations: It was shot at the very shipyard where real-life history was made.

The action in this superlative film is relentless and gripping from beginning to end.

A drum-tight, extremely grisly thriller. And odd as it may sound given the subject matter, it's also surprisingly funny.

You'd have to be a grump not to like this funny, sentimental blend of pathos, drama and zaniness.

An exciting picture with much derring-do and adventure, Where Eagles Dare is also a lengthy film, though there is more than enough action to keep it moving along.

Price is wonderful as the spooky owner, but the other three players are merely adequate. But still a superlative Corman/AIP effort and a great beginning to a varying but always interesting series of horror films.

Labelled by many critics as a "thinking person's Ghost," Truly, Madly, Deeply is sensitively written and charmingly acted. Juliet Stevenson brings tremendous depth to a role that was created specifically for her, and Alan Rickman proves himself capable of something quite different from the bad-guy roles for which he's best known.

It remains notable primarily as a record of pre-Hollywood Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In many ways, this is one of the best biblical films ever done. Mostly because it doesn't preach, just entertains, and in doing that, puts its lessons across with a minimum of effort.

This spoof of the great fictional-film detectives offers consistently funny scenes sparked by Falk, Niven, Sellers, and Guinness.

Though shamelessly manipulative, it is undeniably effective. It offers some genuine moments of warmth, humor and excitement. Of course it all leads up to a big tournament where Fair Play has a showdown with Dirty Tricks. Guess who wins. This is the kind of movie where you find yourself cheering even though you know you're being hoodwinked.

An unusual piece of work that combines almost thriller-style suspense with an intelligent, neo-documentary approach to its harrowing subject.

The mockumentary conceit gives a vivid immediacy to the material, and the PAL digital video cinematography is often surprisingly lyrical -- certain shots of empty, fog-shrouded San Francisco sites more than make up in eeriness what they lack in special-effects decrepitude.

The defendants – especially Hoffman and Rubin – baited elderly Judge Julius J. Hoffman, who never failed to take the bait; Seale was so obstreperous that Hoffman had him gagged and bound to a chair, another indelible image.

Weerasethakul mixes fact, fiction and filmmaking into a blend that's intriguingly obtuse, yet surprisingly revelatory.

The morbid theme notwithstanding, this is by no means a downbeat film, and it ends with the rather hopeful thought that for every disaster there's also a chance for survival.

Bendinger pulls out all the stops visually, using bold set design, frantic editing, extreme angles and computer image multiplying that turns what begins as a Busby Berkeley exercise in synchronized movement into a kaleidoscopic infinity of handsprings and back flips.

Fueled by an intense and intricate performance by O'Quinn, the movie is a fascinating examination of America's predilection for appearances over substance.

A funny, savvy, camp yet family-friendly look at the Generation-X TV icons.

A fascist film, or a film about a fascist cop? Either way, this is suspenseful, energetic stuff, directed with urgency and style by Cahiers du Cinema favorite Don Siegel.

Though it's not as satisfying as it might have been, it still boasts great stars and catchy songs in addition to a love story, and is a perennial holiday favorite.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's tragic love story was brought to the screen with surprising vitality under Brooks' expert hand. He drew fine performances from Taylor, Johnson, and others in a sumptuous MGM production that captured the flavor of expatriate life in the City of Light.

Director Ronald Neame's well-paced film captures the period beautifully, and the acting is superb, with Finney and Alec Guinness, as Marley's ghost, real standouts.

A deeply moving film.

If there's a gay cliche who doesn't flounce through this feel-good German comedy, he must have been out of town when the casting call went out, but its fundamental good nature is tough to resist.

Sweet, goofy story.

Parents should be warned that the novel ventures into some emotionally dark territory that could be upsetting to very young or sensitive children, and might want to consider reading and discussing the book together before seeing the film.

Woods is particularly good as the deprogrammer, conveying an air of moral tackiness that suggests the "cure" may be worse than the perceived disorder.

An intense, if slightly overlong, drama. The film is well assembled, and the performances are all quite good, especially Connery and Hendry.

Like "Secret Things," the film is ultimately infuriating, subtle, self-indulgent, astute and disingenuous, which makes for great -- if divisive -- conversation.

Thanks to the ingenious voiceover, however, Look Who's Talking is a genial, entertaining film.

This film lacks the cinematic boldness of Olivier's earlier screen Shakespeare; there's nothing here to match the gloomy mise-en-scene of Hamlet or the cocky theatrical conceits of Henry V. But his riveting performance transcends his conventional directing and utterly dominates the movie.

A disturbing, wonderfully acted, well-scripted, and suspenseful study of a murderous 13-year-old girl.

The story's authenticity was enhanced by the real-life marriage of Grant and Drake and their resulting on-screen rapport.

Though compelling, well crafted, and well acted, SWEET DREAMS will probably be a disappointment for Patsy Cline fans.

Cute without being insipid, funny without being childish, The Muppet Movie contains enough magic to please all ages.

Silly but endearing comedy.

What the film lacks in artistry it makes up for in commitment.

Lively if derivative romp.

Stylish and surprisingly effective thriller.

Ron Howard's direction is carefully balanced, and he treats his characters with humanity and respect. Winkler turns in the best performance of his career, and Keaton is wonderful.

Sly, leisurely-paced western from Howard Hawks, with a script by Leigh Brackett ensuring a few laughs.

Time will eventually reveal that HAMBURGER HILL is one of the best and most realistic films made about the Vietnam War.

A slick, glossy multi-character soap opera set in London's airport.

British director Shane Meadows' strongest film to date is also his most personal: A stylish fictionalization of his own wayward youth, spent among a group of working-class skinheads in Thatcher's England.

The filmmakers know the tropes of spooky movies: Glowering shadows, squeaking playground equipment, eerie storms and half-glimpsed forms, but the film rests on Rueda's subtle, intense performance, rooted in every half-articulated anxiety that ever gnawed at a parent's brain.

It was really no bigger than a beach ball, weighed about as much as a full-grown man and it beeped. And aside from transmitting a radio signal and accidentally opening a few automatic garage doors, it didn't really do anything except orbit the globe once every 96 minutes.

Pakula again uses big-name stars to deliver a political message. This time around Fonda and Kristofferson are involved in the world of high finance that teeters on the brink of disaster when Arab countries threaten to pull their money from US banks instead of letting it "roll over."

Though it lacks Alfred Hitchcock's wry and macabre sense of humor, DEAD CALM is a cracklingly good, cold-blooded film that never lets up in its truly Hitchcockian suspense. Under the gripping direction of Phillip Noyce, the film sustains tension and power beautifully, right through to its startling conclusion.

CROSS OF IRON is anything but a standard WWII movie, especially compared to its mythicizing contemporaries. Shot superbly by cinematographer Coquillon, the film shows war as hideously brutal, inglorious, and insane.

The Warriors is a visual feast. Director Hill fills the frame with vibrant colors, bright lights, and nonstop motion. The uniforms of the various gangs are unique, funny, fearsome, and more than a bit theatrical. The exciting fight scenes are brilliantly choreographed, and instead of focusing on the violence, Hill concentrates on pure movement (most of the cast were actually dancers).

Silly, fun stuff, with a good supporting cast.

"Queer as Folk's" Peter Paige makes a strong debut as a writer/director with this original black comedy.

Pitch-black and bound to offend anyone who's not on its wavelength, Nick Guthe's entertainingly slick debut is a mordantly funny slice of lust, crime and sleaze life set in the world of L.A.'s industry elite: Call it 9021-noir.

And while the film is unflinching in its depiction of the brutality of both the English and the Irish, Jordan pointedly dissociates his hero from any actual ugliness.

THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA is marked by Mankiewicz's sharp wit--sometimes too much wit. When there is one character cracking wise, fine. When you have two, okay. But when almost all the characters sound as though they were sitting around the writer's table at the MGM commissary, suddenly credibility goes out the window.

There's little difference between this joyful holiday film and the standard-issue yuletide-miracle movie, except that the holiday isn't Christmas.

A throwback to an age when action movies had room between shoot-outs and car chases for dialogue - real dialogue, not rim-shot-ready one-liners - and character development.

The cast is charming, the sets intentionally stagy, and the musical performances fine.

Brother's Keeper offers a rich tapestry of rural American life in both light and dark shades.

Negret brings personal experience to the material; his own family endured two ordeals by kidnapping, and he works up a painfull convincing sense of sweaty desperation.